Friday, June 29, 2018

On August 24, The Marley Family, Island Records, and UMe
will collectively proclaim the sun is shining in celebration of 40 years of
Kaya, Bob Marley & The Wailers’ historic March 1978 release. This most
special anniversary edition will feature Stephen “Ragga” Marley’s exciting and
vibrant new “Kaya 40” mixes of all ten tracks from the original album alongside
its original mixes in 2CD and 180-gram 2LP configurations.

Recorded in London concurrently with the material that ultimately
comprised 1977's Exodus — a record proclaimed by Time Magazine in 1999 to be
the Best Album of the 20th Century — Kaya is the perfect sonic-sibling bookend
that shares all the joy, spirit, and literal DNA of some of Marley's most
groundbreaking material. Kaya contains a number of the most enduring, heartfelt
songs in the entire Marley canon, including "Is This Love,"
"Easy Skanking," and "Sun Is Shining."

Kaya was initially released just one month ahead of Bob
Marley & The Wailers headlining the legendary One Love Peace Concert at The
National Stadium in Kingston, Jamaica on April 22, 1978, an event that featured
16 of reggae's biggest acts. One Love Peace was heralded as Marley's triumphant
return to his native soil, following his long exile in London after having fled
the country as a result of a December 1976 assassination attempt at his
Kingston homestead.

The album was recorded with the then-new configuration of
The Wailers that comprised brothers Carlton and Aston "Family Man"
Barrett on drums and bass, Tyrone Downie on keyboards, Alvin "Seeco"
Patterson on percussion, and the I Threes — Rita Marley, Marcia Griffiths, and
Judy Mowatt — on backing vocals, along with newest member Julian (Junior)
Marvin on guitar. Two of Kaya's songs had previously appeared in different
arrangements on 1971's Soul Revolution — the title track, and "Sun Is
Shining."

Stephen's goal in mixing Kaya 40 was to create a balance
that drew heavily from the original versions. Using Bob's vocals from demos
from original Kaya sessions that were recorded at different tempos, Stephen
synched the vocals with alternate takes and layered it over different
instrumental arrangements. Stephen tried to keep the flavor as authentic as
possible. To mix the album, he used a similar minimal approach, basing his
version heavily off the classic analog concepts they used in the 1970s.

Bob Marley's artistic legacy forever endures, and the 40th
anniversary edition of Kaya only serves to reinforce just how much we all share
the shelter of this special music.

With Ask for
Chaos, acclaimed guitarist Gilad Hekselman (who claimed the #1 spot in the
Rising Star-Guitar Category in the 2017 DownBeat Magazine Critics Poll) takes a
bold new turn, inspired by two new and quite disparate trio configurations.
"The album title is not necessarily a description of the music," he
says, "but the environment in which the music was made. In these bands we
don't look for one way to do something, we always look for new ways. We like
the instability and chaotic feeling of that. Also, with my becoming a father in
2017, it's affected my music and life in very intense ways. And of course
politically, what's going on right now is chaotic. Ask for Chaos says that from
chaos can come new things, in music and in life. You ask for chaos in order to
make progress."

From the
dawn of his career, Hekselman has nourished deep relationships with bandmates
and strived to keep his music fresh and unexpected. His long-running work with
bassist Joe Martin, from his debut SplitLife to his output with Martin and
drummer Marcus Gilmore on Words Unspoken, Hearts Wide Open, This Just In and
most recently Homes (2015), revealed a guitarist with tremendous facility, a
rich sound and boundless imagination as a composer. The New York Times hailed
him as an artist "who favors clarity of tone and purpose, and who
surrounds himself with strong talent."

Ask for
Chaos

is the first
release from the guitarist's new label, Hexophonic Music, in collaboration with
Motema Music. "I look at my favorite artists from the '60s and '70s and
see how many records they made," Hekselman marvels. "Having my own
outlet for recordings couldn't be more liberating. I've always had more ideas
than time and means to put them on records. This move will allow me to dream
beyond the limitation of what I am expected to do, and when I am expected to do
it."

Hekselman
sequenced the new album with the two trios interspersed, resulting in sonic
surprise but also a seamless aesthetic unity. Of the gHex Trio, with Rick
Rosato on bass and Jonathan Pinson on drums, Hekselman says: "Rick and
Jonathan are giving a whole new dimension to my music. I tell them they have to
keep me on my toes. I don't want to find a way to play a tune - to me, the way
to play a tune is to not have a way, to find a new one every time. They're
amazing at that and they love it too."

About
ZuperOctave, featuring pianist/keyboardist Aaron Parks and drummer Kush Abadey
in a charged, edgy electric setting, the guitarist remarks: "I've played
in a lot of bands without bass and I've noticed that it has become a part of my
sound that I still haven't documented under my own name. When I got a grant
from the Jazz Gallery, I wrote a bunch of music for that instrumentation. I
wanted Aaron because he understood that I wasn't trying to do a fusion band, I
didn't want something too rigid. I wanted it to go places. Kush was very open
to that as well and they both bring a lot of openness and breath into the
music"

Ask for
Chaos marks Hekselman's first use of piano on record, and Parks' vibrant mix of
acoustic, electric and synthesizer makes for an uncommonly textured and
adventurous result. "Aaron and I share the bass duties," he points
out. "It's either nobody plays bass, or I have this octave pedal, the Boss
OC3 Super Octave, that I use behind Parks' solos, and he has keyboards that he
uses to play bass lines." Abadey's blend of drum kit and electronic pads
also gives ZuperOctave a thoroughly modern sound, perfectly suited to the
complex and rhythmically cutting-edge music Hekselman brings to the table.

Following an
ethereal and effects-heavy guitar "Prologu00001101" we hear
ZuperOctave launch into "VBlues," with its asymmetrical rhythms and
McCoy Tyner-esque modern blues harmony. Parks, with a distorted Fender Rhodes
sound, stretches over the form before yielding to Hekselman's heated yet
lyrical turn. ZuperOctave returns on four additional tracks: "Tokyo
Cookie," in deeply grooving 5/4, with involved melodic parts that take
time to unfold, intersect and combine; "Stumble," a dreamy even-eighth
piece based on Wayne Shorter's "Fall"; "Home to You," with
solos trading back and forth in a dazzling spiral between guitar and piano; and
the vivacious "Clap Clap," spurred by Hekselman's desire "to
write something with two claps like those summer hits on the radio."

The gHex
Trio appears on four tracks, beginning with "It Will Get Better," a
slightly sad theme with folk-like harmonies and a pure, lilting melody.
"It was written when my wife was still pregnant with our son,"
Hekselman says. "The thought of bringing a child into the world at the
time of Trump's inauguration was heavy on me. The title is a promise I don't
know if I have the power to fulfill, but part of my duty as a musician is to
help things go in that direction. I wrote this to express my wish for what the
world could be."

The bright,
Brazilian-influenced "Milton" reflects Hekselman's deep appreciation
for Milton Nascimento, while the brief yet impactful "Little Song for
You" has a loosely phrased melodic construction reminiscent of Ornette
Coleman. "Do Re Mi Fa Sol," which Hekselman calls "a love song
to music," closes the album in a lyrical, almost country-ish vein, with a
whistled refrain and a sumptuous overdubbed string arrangement performed by
Duncan Wickeland arranged by Petros Klampanis.

With Ask for
Chaos, Hekselman makes radical departures while holding true to the core of the
sound he's been refining for years. Exhibiting his "unusual command of
touch and dynamics" and his fluency "in a diverse, enthralling jazz
vocabulary" (JazzTimes), he juxtaposes two trios with starkly contrasting
tonal characters and derives from them a unity of artistic purpose.

Exuberantly
inventive drummer Henry Cole was listening to a favorite album one day, when a
whole new arrangement for a classic song leaped into his head. The result was
“El Diablo (Espiritu Burlon),” the first song from SIMPLE, the long-awaited
follow up his 2012 debut, Roots Before Branches.

The new
song, like a lost Latin track off Maggot Brain, embraces Cole’s vision for
21st-century Puerto Rican music, encompassing a wide range of global influences
from folkloric rhythms to jazz, rock, and funk. These influences are second
nature to Cole, who’s played with jazz (luminaries Miguel Zenón, Ben Wendel,
and Gary Burton, as well as Chambao, Residente/Calle 13, and Draco Rosa.

“El Diablo”
was written by the iconic Puerto Rican songwriter Rafael Hernández nearly 80
years ago and was made famous by legendary percussionist Ray Barretto on his
1973 Fania Records album Indestructible. Singer Tito Allen was the lead singer
in Barretto’s band at the time, and he repeats that role here, despite
declaring he would never do another version. Some songs find the perfect
recorded form, something so good it makes covers feel impossible. That’s what
Tito Allen felt about “El Diablo,” and he swore was the only version the world
needed.

Cole’s
arrangement swayed him in the end. “I did that song with Ray and it made no
sense to do it again without him, though lots of people asked,” says Allen.
“Then Henry told me he wanted to record it. The group he had was so different.
I was still thinking I might want to turn it down but then I heard the tunes a
couple of times, and heard a lot of different stuff here. So I said yes. We did
it and whoa, it sounded good. The guys he had were amazing, I felt so good
there with them.”

The track
shows how firmly Cole is pushing Puerto Rican forms forward. “‘El Diablo’ was
purposely chosen as the first song I wanted people to hear from this new
project,“ says Cole, who was born in Mayagüez, Puerto Rico. “Rafael Hernández
is the most beloved songwriter ever to emerge from Puerto Rico, and Ray
Barretto is easily one of the greatest Latin jazz and salsa percussionists of
all time. These are my roots, my heroes. So ‘El Diablo’ is my tribute to them.”
Cole had a chance to play with Barretto several years ago as part of a jazz
project Barretto spearheaded.

Cole burrows
into the heart and pulse of the folkloric Puerto Rican bomba rhythm and
rebuilds the track from there. Cole and his band Villa Locura freely wed a
deeply churning polyrhythmic base to big band horns, rock guitars, electric
piano and chanted call-and-response choruses. Tito Allen’s singing rides over
all of it like a wicked master of ceremonies, egging the musicians on.

“Having Tito
Allen on this song was a dream come true,” says Cole. “He told me that he’d
turned down all requests since 1973 to re-record the song because the original
was the unbeatable standard, but he thought my arrangement was different, so he
agreed to join us.”

The musicians
on El Diablo are a veritable who’s who of international artists who either call
New York City home or are part of the constant Nuyorican/Puerto Rican back and
forth. Bassist Panagiotis Andreou was born in Greece while guitarist Guilherme
Monteiro hails from Brazil and pianist Luis Perdomo from Venezuela.
Percussionist Mauricio Herrara is from Cuba, while Obanilu Allende, Beto
Torrens, and Bryant Huffman are from Puerto Rico, as are the singers joining
Allen on vocals, Jeremy Bosch and Cheito Quinõnes. Rounding out the band are
American trumpeter Jonathan Powell, guitarist Adam Rogers, and saxophonists
Chris Creek and Mario Castro (also from Puerto Rico).

“El Diablo
and all the songs I wrote for SIMPLE are inspired by my land and the things I
miss when I’m away from my roots, away from the coast of Puerto Rico, the
feeling of not having to rush and not feeling stress at all, just joy,” says
Cole. “I wanted to keep it simple. My focus was on feeling good, on how the
musical parts worked together, and how I danced to it. I wanted people to enjoy
it and make them feel like dancing and I wanted musicians in the band to enjoy
themselves playing it.”

What
critics, scholars, and Puerto Rican master musicians are saying about “El
Diablo:”

“By removing
‘El Diablo’ from the Cuban Son Montuno, also known as ‘Salsa,’ and placing it
on top of one of the many variations of the old Afro-Puerto Rican Bomba rhythm,
Cole open his mind to a whole new world of possibilities and he goes to them
without fear. You get strong sound of the “Bomba Barriles” ( Puerto Rico’s
version, if you will, of the congas, but with a much bigger and richer sound,
used to play bomba rhythms.), full rock and jazz sounding guitars, full brass
section playing counterpoint and rhythmic melodies and of course, there’s
Cole’s beautiful drumming driving the whole band. This is a definitely new look
to Afro-Puerto Rican rhythms. You will dig this!” --Gary Nunez, founder of
GRAMMY-winning ensemble Plena Libre.

There is a
contagious and combustible energy every time the eight-piece wonder-band The
Suffers steps on the scene. NPR's Bob Boilen attributes the band's allure to
their "Soul, straight from horn to heart." He adds, "This band
is on fire when it's in front of an audience...but the intensity of their shows
are also captured in the studio." Following The Suffers' electrifying late
night TV debut on Letterman in 2015, David Letterman exclaimed, "If you
can't do this, get out of the business!" There is something undeniable
about The Suffers (whose name is a reference to the 1978 Jamaican film Rockers
starring Leroy "Horsemouth" Wallace, Jacob Miller and Burning Spear,
among others), that instantly hits home with their audiences. "We make
music for all people," says lead vocalist Kam Franklin. "At this
point, we've played all over the world and one thing is certain - if the music
is good, the people will enjoy it." Since 2011, the H-Town heroes have
been on a steady grind and have no plans of stopping. It seems the secret to
their success is simple. Keyboardist Patrick Kelly confides, "There is a
universal groove in the music that we play," while bass guitarist Adam
Castaneda adds, "I don't think any of us are trying to impress anyone with
our technical abilities, we just want to make them dance."

July 13,
2018, Shanachie Entertainment will release The Suffers' highly anticipated
label debut Everything Here. Guitarist Kevin Bernier says, "Everything
Here, as a whole, explores the many aspects of who we are as people through
songs. We've had crushes on people, we've had our hearts broken, and we've
moved through all the difficult times so that we can experience the joyful
moments."The Suffers have got
everything you need and there's no need to look further - a heaping dose of
soul, a dash of reggae, a splash of jazz, a pinch of salsa, a hint of rock 'n'
roll and a dollop of hip hop and funk - and that is just a few ingredients
simmering inside their magical Gulf Coast soul. Percussionist Jose Luna says,
"The glue that holds us together is our experience. We have all played
with so many bands and musicians through the years that we have learned how not
to step on each others toes."The
Suffers however will get your feet moving on Everything Here, a riveting
collection of 15 originals that shows mad love for Houston (there are even
cameos from Houston rappers Paul Wall and Bun B), explores the many sides of
love, celebrates the virtues of individuality, reminds us of the destruction of
Harvey and resilience of the human spiritand declares love for their mothers.All of these themes coalesce into one soulful soundtrack.The band co-produced the album with John
Allen Stephens and Zeke Listenbee co-produced on several tracks.Trombonist Michael Razo explains, "One
of our goals was to have the songs on the album flow or tie into each other.
Like creating an album where you just press play and let it go without having
to skip to the next song."The
album's new single is "Do Whatever," opens with tight and soul-stirring
horns, thumping bass lines and Kam laying down the law singing "Full on
disclosure, I'm not here for exposure. I came to have a good time so let me
shine....Do whatever feels right all night, alright, alright!"

The Suffers'
drive coupled with their can't lose attitude and serious chops have taken them
from their beloved Houston to the world stage (they are the first band to break
nationally out of Houston in a long time). "We're a testament to teamwork
and camaraderie resulting in things working out even when the odds are against
a positive outcome," says drummer Nick Zamora. "The wonderful thing
about music is that it is ultimate universal communication," reflects
trumpeter Jon Durbin.The Suffers have
played sold out shows in Japan and Latin America, turned out audiences at the
Newport Folk Festival and Afropunk Festival and made believers of just about
anyone who has experienced their live shows.With the release of Everything Here, The Suffers are bound to further
endear die-hard fans and make believers of new ones. "I'm most proud that
we are still here going at it," concludes Kam Franklin. "All the
travels, new friends, and fans we've gained along the way are just an added
bonus to a much bigger dream."

The
influence of the late playwright and educator Donald Evans has always loomed
large over the Captain Black Big Band. Pianist and bandleader Orrin Evans named
the band for his father’s brand of pipe tobacco, the aroma of which always
announced his father’s presence in the house. The big band’s third album,
Presence, is a celebration of the warmth and spirit of the elder Evans, but
more importantly it’s quite simply a celebration – an approach to not only
music but life that Evans inherited directly from his parents.

Presence,
due out September 21 via Smoke Sessions Records, features a scaled-down
11-piece version of Evans’ long-running big band, recorded live at a pair of
venues in his hometown of Philadelphia: Chris’ Jazz Café (where the band made
its debut in late 2008) and South Jazz Parlor. The line-up features a core
group of collaborators that the pianist tends to refer to as “a family” or “a
village” more than a band. Most of the musicians on this recording have played
with Captain Black for years, while many of them have contributed compositions
and arrangements to the ensemble’s ever-growing book.

The album’s
cover art, drawn by a close friend, depicts the face of Donald Evans gazing
upon the band, his enlivening spirit embodied by the diversity and raucous
sense of joy that Captain Black always brings to the stage. “There was always a
party in my household,” Evans says. “I always looked forward to events at the
house, where guests would gather around the piano in our living room. That
leads into how I approach the Captain Black Big Band. I try to create that
party and to have people in the band that are fun seekers.”

That
pervasive sense of familial camaraderie shines through the music on Presence,
especially in the band’s smaller, tighter incarnation. The band’s downsizing
can be explained in part by practical considerations: it makes an easier fit
for their long-running stint on the intimate stage of Smoke Jazz & Supper
Club, for one. It’s also been easier to manage as Evans’ schedule has become more
crowded since joining The Bad Plus in January.

But the
11-piece band also represents a distillation of the larger ensemble, pared down
to a close-knit core of players that know each other very well, can navigate
the music with the spontaneity of a small band, and simply enjoy the experience
of sharing the stage together.

“I look for
something different in the Captain Black Big Band,” Evans says. “I look for the
ability and desire to be part of a family. I actually get disappointed
sometimes when other people don’t see the appeal of that. You have to be ready
and down to be a part of this. That all stems from what I saw growing up in my
household.”

The Captain
Black Big Band’s taut, boisterous energy bursts out of the gate with trombonist
David Gibson’s aptly-named “The Scythe.” The tune’s keen-edged theme evokes a
ferocious round of soloing from the composer as well as saxophonist Troy
Roberts, trumpeter Josh Lawrence and the leader, recently name “Rising Star
Pianist” in the 2018 DownBeat Critics’ Poll.

Robert’s
vigorous tenor leads the way into Eric Revis’ bracing “Question,” originally
recorded by Tarbaby, the collective trio that Revis and Evans share with
drummer Nasheet Waits. Evans opens John Raymond’s “Onward” with a meditative
intro that lends a spiritual overtone to the piece’s sense of inspirational
uplift, answered by the composer’s swelling trumpet solo, which soars ever
higher as it draws strength from the band’s powerful backing.

Evans’ own
“When It Comes” finds the band teasing out its raw edges, enjoying a playfully
tempestuous give and take. Raymond’s blustery solo rides the avalanche of Anwar
Marshall’s roiling rhythms, while Evans adds incisive interjections. Another
Evans original, the spring-loaded “Flip the Script” prompts a spirited dialogue
between Roberts and alto saxophonist Caleb Curtis. The surging groove of
Roberts’ “Trams” is established with an audience participation clap-along,
parrying the roaring horn thrusts of the tune.

Evans
tenderly establishes the mood for his own “The Answer,” while Lawrence’s
explosive title track, originally recorded on his own album Color Theory with
Evans in the band, ends the set on a characteristically vibrant note. All
that’s left is a brief, ramshackle reprise of “When It Comes” that sends
listeners off with the band’s rambunctious clamor in their ears.

“In all the
bands I lead, my concept is allowing for the unknown to happen,” Evans
concludes. “This is a real, raw and honest representation of what happened on
stage on those nights.”

Thursday, June 28, 2018

The mighty
Louie Vega pays tribute to the New York scene that gave him a start – and which
he helped transform with his classic club work of the past few decades! The
set's a fantastic celebration of the spirit of disco, but is delivered with a
very contemporary vibe – not straight house, but that warmer blend of the music
that first started hitting the Paradise scene in the second half of the 80s –
when folks weren't afraid to go back and borrow some of the best moments of the
70s, and work them into leaner grooves for the new generation. Vega was a key
part of that generation – and there's a spirit here that's very much in keeping
with his early Masters At Work material, especially when it got collaborative –
as the record features work from guests, and a lot of classic tracks that are
transformed in Vega's hands. Louie mixes lots of new music with his remixes –
so the album is quite different than a remix record – and new guests include
Josh Milan, The Martinez Brothers, Patrick Adams, Anane, Rochelle Fleming,
Barbara Tucker, DJ Jazzy Jeff, and Tony Touch – amidst older work by John
Davis, Sylvester, Luther Vandross, Rhyze, Greg Henderson, and Klassique. 27
tracks in all – including "Rebel Nation" by Louie Vega with Patrick
Adams & Cloud Two, "He Promised Me" by Bebe Winans, "Love
Having You Around" by Louie Vega, "Get Myself Together (Louie Vega
rmx)" by Luther Vandross, "Dreamin (Louie Vega rmx)" by Greg Henderson,
"This Beat Is Mine" by Vicky D, "Cosmic Disco" by Dub Disco
Band, "Get With The Funk" by Louie Vega, "Dance (Disco Heat)
(Louie Vega rmx)" by Sylvester", "Somebody's Loving You (Ray
Reid 12" mix)" by Klassique, "Let's Do It (Louie Vega interpretation)"
by Leroy Burgess & Convention, and "Gotta Get Outta Here" by Lucy
Hawkins. ~ Dusty Groove

After
winning the 2015 Sarah Vaughan International Vocal Competition then performing
at the Montreal International Jazz Festival the following year, 25-year-old
singer and songwriter Arianna Neikrug makes her grander introduction to the
music world with the August 24, 2018 release of Changes on Concord Jazz.

Produced by
the Grammy-winning pianist and arranger Laurence Hobgood, Changes displays
Neikrug’s gift for interpreting tunes from the Great American Songbook and more
recent pop and R&B classics from the ’70s. The disc also contains two
originals that reveal some of Neikrug’s journey from her hometown of Los
Angeles to New York City, where she argues she truly belongs.

Hobgood, who
recruited his regular trio mates – drummer Jared Schonig and bassist Matt
Clohesy – for Changes, describes Neikrug as “an intellectual and complex
person.” “I can honestly say that she’s the most theoretically informed singer
that I’ve ever worked with – in terms of just knowing music,” Hobgood says.
“She understands the basic structures of music and how to talk about it. She
has a healthy combination of being strong-willed with being totally open-minded
to suggestions. Those are attributes of a singer with a long career.”

Changes
begins with a hypnotic reading of “No Moon at All” on which Neikrug initiates
by pairing her comely soprano with Hobgood’s economical piano accompaniment.
Soon after the rhythm section enters the fray and buoys her along as she
demonstrates her assured sense of swing, bluesy phrasing and remarkable
scatting acumen.

Neikrug’s
graceful rendition of “Spring Can Really Hang You Up the Most” is the second of
the Great American Songbook compositions to appear on Changes. Neikrug says
that she started singing the Fran Landesman and Tommy Wolf tune when she was
only 17, but with little understanding of its emotional subtext. “How could I?
First of all, living in Los Angeles, I only had summer my whole life. So, what
is spring?” Neikrug laughs. “After I first moved to New York, I finally
understood what spring was all about. I found out why so many songs are written
about the weather and the seasons, because they make a huge difference in your
mental and emotional state.”

The disc
shift gears with Neikrug’s divine makeover of Al Green’s R&B staple, “Let’s
Stay Together” on which she sings the pleading lyrics and succinct melody atop
Hobgood’s beguiling arrangement. Hobgood suggested the song to Neikrug during
one of their first think-tank sessions while they were scanning Rolling Stone
magazine’s “100 Best Songs.”

Neikrug’s
burgeoning songwriting talent gets the spotlight with “Changes,” the disc’s
title track. Spurred by a lithe samba rhythm, the song touches on the difficult
period between graduating from Frost School of Music at the University of Miami
with a bachelor of music degree in studio music and jazz vocal performance and
applying for the Sarah Vaughan International Vocal Competition. “I was going
through my first major depressive episode,” she recalls. “I was experiencing a
rough time because I didn’t have any structure or job yet. It was weird for me
to be out in the real world and think, ‘Okay? What do I do?How do I make a schedule? Where do I go?’”

Now in
hindsight, Neikrug sees that struggling, transitional period as a blessing
because it afforded her some of life’s big lows and highs, which enabled her to
write more convincing life-based songs and interpret emotionally gripping
standards. “Having to build yourself up when you’re down is not an easy thing
to do” she says. “But how else are you going to write music from the heart and
emote these big experiences that you can put into your art? In the worst way,
it’s kind of cool.”

Changes
continues with the first of two intriguing mash-ups, “Never Let Me Go/I’ll Be
There.” Neikrug and Hobgood delve into Ray Evans and Jay Livingston’s 1956
standard as a sparkling duet before the rhythm section slides in for a
sumptuous rendition of the Jackson Five’s Motown gem. “I’ve been pitching ‘I’ll
Be There’ as just a lush jazz ballad to a number of singers for about 15 years.
Nobody has bit until now,” Hobgood says.

Neikrug
returns to jazz standards with a blistering version of “The Song Is You,” on
which she flaunts her rhythmic and tonal agility before delivering her second
original “New York Song,” articulating her long desire to move to the Big Apple
then returning to standard repertoire again by digging deep into the jazz canon
for her bewitching, R&B-laden refurbishing of “After You’ve Gone,” a Henry Creamer
and Turner Layton classic that’s 100-years-old. At the Sarah Vaughan
International Competition, she’d performed a vastly different, more up-tempo
treatment of “After You’ve Gone” during the final round.

Neikrug then
performs what she argues is the song that sealed her win at that aforementioned
competition – Bob Dorough and Terrell Kirk’s “Devil May Care.” Again, she
explains that Hobgood’s mesmeric arrangement differs from the one she performed
at the competition, which she described as “sassier and more down-home blues.

Changes
concludes with its second mash-up – two Joni Mitchell songs “Help Me/Be Cool.”
After college graduation, Neikrug went on a Joni Mitchell binge, beginning with
the 1971 landmark LP, Blue. “[‘Help Me’] sounds almost as if it were written
for my voice,” Neikrug says. “The key is perfect; the melody is perfect. The
song is challenging enough that I had a desire to learn it.But it was also about storytelling and being
young and full of angst.”

After
agreeing on “Help Me,” Hobgood suggested intertwining it with “Be Cool.”
Neikrug had her reservations though. “To be honest, the first time I heard it,
I said, ‘OK, could you give me something a little bit harder to sing?’” Neikrug
laughs. “But Laurence wanted to do a mash-up. It almost resembles how I wish
pop music sounded. It still sounds really hip but it’s challenging, eye-opening
and re-imaginative.”

Blending the
right amount of reverence for the jazz tradition with a knowing glance to
modern pop and R&B classics, sprinkled with two inviting originals, Changes
will delight both jazz purists and novices without making any unwise artistic
compromises as she superbly negotiates the glories of jazz’s past with a
wide-eyed optimism that betrays her tender age. “When you’re recording your
debut album, fresh out of college, you’re not exactly sure how you want to
present yourself,” Neikrug explains. “It was easier figuring that out by
discovering who I didn’t want to be. I’m just trying to take the jazz tradition
and move it in my direction.”

Founded in
1771 by King Gustav III, the Royal Swedish Academy of Music is one of the Royal
Academies in Sweden. The academy's purpose is to promote art music and musical
life. It shall thus follow developments within Swedish and international music
circles, take initiatives to advance musical culture as well as support
education, research and artistic development in music's various fields.

The news
comes just months after the guitarist, composer, and bandleader received the
National Endowment for the Arts Jazz Master Award (the United States’ highest
national award for a jazz artist) as well Jazz FM’s “PRS For Music Gold Award”
for lifetime achievement.

Additionally,
the 20-time GRAMMY® Award winner kicks off a 24-city European tour this week
with Antonio Sanchez, Linda May Han Oh, and Gwilym Simcock, followed by a U.S.
tour this fall. Complete tour schedule listed below.

Royal
Swedish Academy of Music Voting Board:

“The
American Guitarist and Composer Pat Metheny is one of the world's most
significant living jazz musicians. He has an unmistakable sound and is an
improviser with what appears to be an infinite flow of ideas. He has
collaborated with most of the biggest names in the jazz, but also with
composers and artists like Terry Riley, Steve Reich, Joni Mitchell and David
Bowie. His discography is extensive. Metheny has driven many types of projects
in the course of his career, both traditionally and experimentally. Some with a
wide, inclusive appeal, others with a narrower, more searching side. Pat Metheny
is also a diligent writer in all topics that appeal to music.”

Brilliant
solo work from Gerald Alston – the first album issued under his own name, after
a strong legacy of work with The Manhattans! Alston's vocals are wonderful here
– beautifully crafted, with a sense of maturity and feeling that most of his
younger soul contemporaries couldn't match – polished with the kind of class
that kept The Manhattans strong well into the 80s – but updated nicely with
some of the more adult soul modes of the latter part of the decade. Production
is by Stan Sheppard and James Varner, who know to keep things laidback to keep
Alston at his best – and titles include "Stay A Little While",
"You Laid Your Love On Me", "I've Waited All Night",
"Activated", "We've Only Just Begun", and "I Come
Alive When I'm With You". (Part of the Disco Fever 40 series!) ~ Dusty Groove

Jason Palmer
– Jason Palmer At Wally’s Volume 1

Trumpeter
Jason Palmer has given us some great creative projects in recent years – but
this time around, he's in a wonderfully back-to-basics mode – working with an
excellent combo in a small club in Boston – on long tracks that really stretch
out and let us hear his imaginative skill on solos! The core group is a quintet
– with the excellent Noah Preminger on tenor, and Max Light ringing out nicely
on guitar – driven by rhythms from Simon Willson on bass and Lee Fish on drums
– players who keep a nice sense of structure in the tunes, even while things
are open enough to really let the solos expand! Chris McCarthy plays Fender
Rhodes on one track on each volume – and all titles are great originals by
Palmer – really showing his dynamic vision as a leader. Titles on this first
volume include "Gabby", "Kemerovo", "Preservation Of
The Lower 9th Ward", "Be Aware", and "Stop Drop &
Roll". ~ Dusty Groove

Skymark - Vitrual Stars

Skymark is
Marc Friedli – a European keyboardist with a real love of vintage instruments –
Arp, Moog, Prophet, Roland, and more – all of which he brings to bear nicely in
this very groovy set! As with his previous record, the vibe here is kind of
late 70s/early 80s – some warmer keyboard modes, some a bit more electro – as
are the vocals on the album, which are slightly more prominent than before, but
often highly processed – so that they're maybe a lot more down in the mix than
the keyboards, with deeper tones that are more likely to slide into the basslines
and rhythms. Yet although understated, the vocals also maybe give the album
more of a spiritual core than ever before – on titles that include
"Yesterday's Flame", "The First Special Feeling",
"Insomnia", "Our Shelter", "The Center Of My
Joy", and "The Power Of A Positive Smile". ~ Dusty Groove

Five full
albums from keyboardist Dave Grusin – packaged together in a single set, with
tiny LP-styled covers for each CD! First up is one of our favorites – the album
One Of A Kind, which is a sweet funky fusion outing that really sums up some of
the best Dave Grusin modes of the 70s! This excellent LP from 1977 really
captures the best of the Grusin soundtrack style – heard in the 70s on shows
like Barretta, or in films like Three Days of the Condor – mellow fusion with a
tightly arranged style – lots of nicely isolated instrumentation, and the kind
of spare and spacey grooves that you'd expect from a hip CTI session! Musicians
include Grover Washington on saxes, Dave Valentin on flute, Ron Carter on bass,
and Steve Gadd himself – plus Grusin on a lot of sweet keyboards – and titles
include great cut "Modaji", plus "Heart Is A Lonely
Hunter", "Catavento", and "Montage".

Mountain Dance
has a similar vibe, too – nice and lean – and one of Dave's funkier albums of
the time – with cuts that include "Captain Caribe",
"Rondo", "City Lights", "Rag Bag", and
"Mountain Dance".

Out Of The Shadows has a nice sort of vibe – not
the too-smooth later sound of the GRP label, and instead this nice balance of
electric keyboards and acoustic piano – delivered with help from key
contemporaries who include Lee Ritenour on guitar and Steve Gadd on drums!
Production is nicely understated – and titles include the mellow stepper
"Serengeti Walk", plus "Last Train To Paradiso", "She
Could Be Mine", "Crystal Morning", "Hokkaido", and
"Sweetwater Nights".

Night Lines is a record that has Dave Grusin
elevating a bit more into the jazz/soul mainstream – as the set has the
keyboardist working with a few more crossover modes than before, but all in a
way that seems to demonstrate his many years in various kinds of music! The
album was a key entry in the new sound of fusion during the mid 80s – maybe a
bit sharper than later smooth jazz, but with efforts from some leading lights
of that generation to come – including David Sanborn and Marcus Miller. Phoebe
Snow sings a bit on the record – which might provide her with one of her more
exciting settings in years – and titles include "Power Wave",
"Thankful N Thoughtful", "Night Lines", "Tick
Tock", "Bossa Baroque", and "Secret Place".

Cinemagic
is a famous pairing of the keyboards of Dave Grusin with the orchestrations of
the London Symphony Orchestra – served up at a level that made the record a
giant hit for so many folks who wouldn't have touched a Dave Grusin record a
decade before! The tunes are a bit different than usual – all film tunes, as
you might expect, delivered in a way that's not afraid to lean on all the
sentimental currents of the tunes – which come from films that include Tootsie,
Heaven Can Wait, The Heart Is A Lonely Hunter, Three Days Of The Condor, and
The Goonies. Titles include "Condor", "An Actor's Life",
"It Might Be You", "Heaven Can Wait", "The Heart Is A
Lonely Hunter", and "Goodbye For Cathy". ~ Dusty Groove

Bassist
Stanley Clarke is right on message here – serving up the kind of cosmic sounds
and soulful styles that he first brought to his music many years back! This
time around, Clarke's got some great help onboard – keyboardist Cameron Graves,
who we've really loved from his own recent work – really soaring alongside
Stanley's always-deft work on electric bass – more dynamic here than we might
have expected, and also given some strong direction from drummer Mike Mitchell.
Beka Gochiashvili plays acoustic piano in the core quartet – and the album also
features contributions from Skyeler Kole, Steve Blum, and Trevor Wesley on
vocals – and Doug E Fresh on a bit of beatbox too! There's lots of surprises
along the way, and titles include "The Rugged Truth", "Lost In A
World", "Enzo's Theme", "To Be Alive", "And Ya
Know We're Missing You", "Combat Continuum", and "After The
Cosmic Rain/Dance Of The Planetary Prince". ~ Dusty Groove

Girl Named
Nino – Moonlight Daughter

Captivating,
genre-defying indie soul from Girl Named Nino – a girl originally from Tbilisi,
Georgia who has long called the Chicago area home, has a sound as far reaching
as her travels, but it still feels intimate and personal! Her voice is
front-and-center throughout Moonlight Daughter, in both the vocals and in the
distinctive songcraft, and it's strong on both fronts. As a singer, she has a
way of balancing classic jazz vocal influences with more modern soul,
global/multi-lingual pop and even a bit of hip hop. Likewise with the songs and
the production. Nino and partner Pablo Gordy – who together handle all of the
writing, arranging, production and instrumentation – have this knack for
layering styles and sounds, but with such strong songwriting core, they can no
doubt play even the most lushly-produced songs here in a stripped down setting
without losing the heart and soul of it. Titles include "Moonlight
Daughter (Flowers To The Moon)", "Whiskey & Cigarettes
(Chaser)", "Little Lady (Keep Your Lights On)", "Four
Letter Words (Siren)", "The Revolution (Lost At The Bazaaar)",
"Jukebox Joint (Heard You, Watched You)", "As We Love (Asa Nisi
Masa", "Valentine" and "Deda (Mother)". ~ Dusty Groove

Leata
Galloway - Tenderly

Leata
Galloway is a name you might recognize from a classic soul album in the 80s –
but here, the singer's moved into quite strong jazz vocal territory – working
with small combo backings on most numbers, and working through a set of classic
tracks that all have a very nice vibe! The shift is quite a surprise from
Leata's earlier work – and it's great to hear that raspy, crackling style in a
mode that's much more unadorned – with plenty of warm basslines from Larry
Ball, who co-produced and arranged the set with Galloway – and musicians who
include Phil Upchurch on guitar, Frank Zatoli on piano, and Ron Brown on tenor.
Titles include "All Blues", "Moondance/Fever",
"Desafinado", "I Want To Be Loved", "Yeah Yeah",
"Tenderly", "Stella By Starlight", and an excellent version
of Ahmad Jamal's "Ahmad's Blues". ~ Dusty Groove

Wednesday, June 27, 2018

With his acclaimed current studio album 'OPUS', Al Di Meola
not only topped the TOP 5 of the Official German Jazz Album Charts and burst to
#1 position in the US Contemporary Jazz Album Charts, but once again proved his
status as a 'guitar superstar'. His curriculum vitae is full of exciting
musical moments and incredible works and he still finds ways to challenging
himself: he is a jack-of-all-trades, who does not take a real break in
supposedly quieter times. Al Di Meola is burning for his passion - the music.
With 'Elegant Gypsy & More LIVE'; partly recorded on his very successful
'Elegant Gypsy 40th Anniversary'-US Tour in 2017, Al Di Meola proves once again
that jazz music tremendously 'rocks'. Above all, for him it is also a journey
back to his musical beginning, which he brings to new heights with fantastic
versions of songs like 'Race With Devil On Spanish Highway', 'Flight Over Rio',
'Midnight Tango' or 'Egyptian Danza'. Available on CD and Digital.

John McLaughlin - Live At Ronnie Scott's

Live at Ronnie Scott's is a single vinyl that features 6
songs from the CD. The music has been completely remastered for this release.
It features all the Mahavishnu Orchestra songs that appear on the CD. The
venerable London jazz club and its charismatic namesake gave so much to
McLaughlin s career, the roots of which extend as far back as McLaughlin s
stint as a member of the club s house band in the 1960s. Since then, his
pioneering spirit, instrumental virtuosity, and improvisational fearlessness
have taken him around the world, put him on stage alongside fellow giants such
as Miles Davis and Tony Williams, and has given listeners a series of
compelling, revolutionary recordings that have redefined improvised music for
generations to come. Limited Edition of 1,000.

Michael Sarian & The Chabones - Leon

Albeit mostly playful, there's a common stigma against
gingers (people with red hair) throughout the world, and my home country
Argentina is no different. Although they don't believe gingers have no soul,
and although they don't believe gingers are vampires; they do believe they're
bad luck. There's this saying, Colorado Yeta, which roughly translates into
'bad luck ginger' (yeta = bad luck; = yeta, Colorado = ginger). To be honest, I
never felt discriminated against because of my red hair, but I did stand out.
Originally, the album title was going to be Colorado Yeta, which is the more
introspective track, melancholic, almost like a ballad. But I knew that
non-Spanish speakers would have a hard time pronouncing and understanding that
title. Additionally, I didn't want the whole album to have this defeatist vibe
to it, so I thought about what positive twist I could give the fact that I am,
in fact, a ginger. Enter León (lion). Yes, I have long red hair and a beard,
but the lion speaks to more than just my, or anyone else's, appearance. It
speaks to anyone who's ever felt 'less than' for any reason, because they too
can be a lion. The lion represents anyone who grows into who they are, and owns
it. The album, although not chronological, is somewhat autobiographical.
Throughout the title track, we try to blur the line between playing in duple
and triple meter, and eventually get into a chacarera sort of feel that does
exactly that. It doesn't hurt that Jim Piela plays an incredibly beautiful solo
that makes us stop worrying about what meter we're in. The second track, No 3,
is a feature for our drummer, Josh Bailey. The rest of the band holds out
chords (voiced without the third), giving him plenty of space to play freely.
The top voice of the chord progression spells out what I call the 'colorado
yeta' melody, which also appears in the intro to Casquito, and in a way
prepares the listener for it. - Michael Sarian

All new
material in Strunz & Farah's new studio recording, Tales of Two Guitars,
the latest chapter in the continuing story of the two virtuoso guitarists who
have created an original and enduring body of guitar music. Rhythmic and
colorful, and recorded with 11 guest musicians, Tales is a musical storybook of
a fully evolved style of playing and composing which has been highly
influential among guitarists everywhere. The new recording has 13 original
pieces, full of contrasts both compositionally and instrumentally, ranging from
the rhythmic to the romantic to the jazz-influenced, incorporating in varying
degrees their classic mix of Latin, Middle Eastern and Jazz influences.

Alain Mallet
– Mutt Slang

After
working 25 years as a busy pianist and composer, Alain Mallet finally decided
it was time to put out a CD that would truly capture his unique voice and
outlook. Mallet has been a sideman for such high-profile acts as Madeleine
Peyroux, Phil Woods, and Paul Simon, and his compositions have been recorded by
jazz greats like Gary Burton, Dave Samuels, and Paquito D’Rivera, among many
others. But until now, he’s never recorded his own CD as a leader. Mutt Slang is
a genre-bending, eclectic project suffused with the diverse cultural influences
that have shaped Mallet’s musically adventurous spirit. The project reflects
Mallet’s deep philosophical views on art and culture, and was influenced by
Miles Davis’ 1958 sessions, Jacques Brel, the Globe Unity Orchestra, Peter
Gabriel, Elis Regina, Keith Jarrett’s American quartet, Stevie Wonder,
Rachmaninov’s Third Concerto, and Salif Keita, to name just a few. The rhythm
section comprises some of the top players on the scene today, including veteran
percussionist JAMEY HADDAD (Dave Liebman, Simon Shaheen, Paul Simon), bassist Peter
Slavov (Joe Lovano), and drummer Abraham Rounds (Meshell Ndegeocello, Seal). Mutt
Slang is a two-CD set. The first CD is a standard, high quality, stereo
recording, while the second CD was engineered with additional audio channels
for surround sound by Elliot Scheiner, the multi-Grammy winning music producer
and engineer. This is a project that seemingly embraces the whole world, yet
it’s articulated with a decidedly American jazz accent by a masterful pianist
joined by a coterie of veteran and up-and-coming jazz luminaries.

Pete Malivererni Trio - Heaven

Pianist,
composer, educator Pete Malinverni has been a fixture on the New York City Jazz
scene since moving there in the early 1980s from his hometown of Niagara Falls,
NY, where he'd begun Classical Piano studies at the tender age of six. Since
moving to NYC, Pete has recorded fourteen times as a leader, including in solo
piano, trio, quartet, quintet, big band and choral contexts. All his recordings
have been received by critics and the public alike and have seen heavy airplay
on all platforms, from the radio to the internet. Throughout his time in NYC,
Pete has established performing, recording and inspirational contact with a
host of masters on the scene there, including Joe Lovano, Vernel Fournier,
Charles Davis, Mel Lewis, Dennis Irwin, Jon Faddis, Karrin Allyson, Steve
Wilson and many, many others. These collaborations have happened in studios and
on stages like the Carnegie Recital Hall, the Caramoor Festival, the Piccolo
Spoleto Festival, the Rome Music and Image Festival, the Santiago (Chile) Jazz
Festival and others, as well as in New York's great clubs, such as the Village
Vanguard, Birdland, the Blue Note, the Village Gate, Bradley's, Smalls and
Mezzrow. These experiences, along with his work in inspirational settings such
as the Devoe Street Baptist Church in Brooklyn (Minister of Music), the
Westchester Reform Temple in Scarsdale, NY (Pianist and Conductor) and the
Pound Ridge Community Church (Director of Music), have convinced him that music
must be treated as a sacred gift, to be passed on freely to fellow musicians
and listeners, with passionate control. www.jazznetworkworldwide.com